Tuesday, July 29, 2008

So I wanted a couple of days off this week, due to the fact it rained all weekend and I didn't get any of my stuff shifted down to the folks. Problem is that I just feel way too guilty to be able to pull a sick day when I'm not sick so yesterday I was a good girl and headed off to work. Then it turns out I was getting sick. Not 'I can't possibly work' sick, just the good ol' 'bugger I'm getting a cold' sick. One benefit of working in customer services is if you get very sniffly, to the point you are sneezing the entire time whilst trying to serve customers, you get sent home. YAY! Woke up this morning still feeling a bit under the weather so I called in sick, which meant I got to take a couple of loads of stuff to the parents, and I got to go and see my neices swimming lesson.

Isn't she, pretty in pink!

I have not seen my neice swim for over a year now, aside from summer time in their pool. She used to have swim lessons on a Monday, and I used to work Tues-Sat, so I was a regular viewer of her lessons. Since we have all shifted around she now has lessons on Tues, and I work Mon-Fri, so there just has not been the opportunity, until today. My goodness she is a great swimmer now. Dolphin diving, backstroke, freestyle, all coming together - fantastic for a 4 year old. Well in a few months she will be 5, but still, WOW! Its unfortunate that I will be moving so far away, but with a work schedule of 4 days on, 4 days off I will make the effort to visit regularly to catch up with all the fam-damn-ly. The cool thing about shifting so far away is I now have someone I can go away and stay with (the biggest downer of having my entire immediate family living in the same tiny town is I had nowhere else to go ... lol).

One step, two step, tick-i-ley under there

Little neice was having a good time too. She wasn't keen on hopping into their pool over summer, unless the temp was over 24 deg C or something. However this pool is nicely heated so she was in like Flynn, whoever Flynn was. She had a great time, hanging off my sister, swimming around. She is even quite happy to get dunked under water, all-be-it briefly, but hey, she is only 20 months. She is such a cheeky wee thing, loves having her photo taken, but then again don't they all. Methinks it helps having digital so they can see the picture instantly, absolutely no concept of having to wait for film processing. Ahh the age of INSTANT, they all want it NOW.

Splish splash

So I think my sister is a great Mum. I am so jealous, but hey, dems the breaks. Maybe oneday my day will come, maybe not. I shall just have to focus on my farmer boy, my horses, and finally my science career, and enjoy all my neices and nephew, and be thankful that when they are tired and grizzly and have a stinky bum, its not my problem. Hehehe

Friday, July 25, 2008

... well after this weekend anyway. YAY! So I opened a new bank account today. I thought it was going to be simple, then when I was there I thought I wasn't going to be able to at all, but luckily the bank staff were being nice and they let me open one. Apparently their policy is to not open any personal cheque account unless you open it with $2300.00 or something similar. Ummmm, really? Nope, don't have that. And to open a savings account you need $5000.00. Ok I will check my other pocket. Ummmm, nope, don't have that either. Fortunately they asked me why I was opening the account, and when they learned that I was planning on having my new jobs wages being direct credited into it they were fine with it. So YAY, I have a new bank, and account. And in a week's time, well in a little over a weeks time, plus two weeks until my first pay comes through, I will be able to use it.

Hmmmm, food for yesterday. I didn't get a chance to enter it yesterday because I had a wee visitor last night, only briefly, but enough so as I could not be bothered coming online to enter it. Two toast, butter and jam for breakie. Grapes for morning tea. Half a can cream styled corn for lunch. Grapes, dried nectarine, bagel chips, fruit and nuts for afternoon tea. Macaroni cheese, mushrooms and tomato, 2 small pieces of chicken for dinner. And plenty of water.

Food today. Porridge, milk and brown sugar for breakie. Dried nectarine, nuts and dried fruit, bagel chip for morning tea. Half a can cream styled corn for lunch. Dried nectarine, bagel chips, and fruit and nuts for afternoon tea. Macaroni cheese, mushrooms and tomato, pork slice. Not enough water by a long shot today. I think it's because it was cold. Better go and get myself a glass right now!

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

So 2 x toast, butter and jam for breakfast. Half a carrot for morning tea. Half a can of spaghetti for lunch. Half a carrot and nuts and raisins for afternoon tea. Three pieces of chicken, a carrot, and peas for dinner. Also drank plenty of water. Happy with my food today.

Spent exactly no money (exactly no money to spend) but its payday tonight so Wheeeeee!

And my lovely DFHHBF phoned me tonight, I haven't told him but I love him *giggle*. Don't want to freak him out, even though I am moving across country to live with him in a week and a half .... lol Oh and DFHHBF stands for dairy farming horse hating boyfriend

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Its gotta be quick as I have a LOT of tidying to do due to the fact the Real Estate agent is coming over tomorrow to see the place to rent it out. And my place is an absolute tip .... arghhhhh. Of course procrastinating on here is not helping a heck of a lot!

So food wise today I was again fairly good. I had porridge, milk and brown sugar for breakfast. Half a carrot for morning tea. 2 slices of pizza for lunch. Half a carrot, nuts and raisins for afternoon tea. And 3 slices of pizza, a large bowl of rice and gravy (didn't need such a large bowl but it was left overs ... hows THAT for an excuse!) for dinner.

Money wise I was excellent. I did not spend a single cent (not that I have a cent to spend). There is a book I am keen to buy, but I figure if I can get this book once I have $100.00 in savings in an account as a reward. Its not a large sum, but it will be a start, and it is far better to do it this way than my usual, I will buy this book and replace the money next pay ... never happens!

Monday, July 21, 2008

I had a good day today. Filled up the vehicle, so I have enough gas until payday. Great. I did wake-up to the wee surprise of my monthly. Not so great, but these things happen (well monthly anyway ... lol). It's been surprisingly heavy this time as well. Bah.

I ate fairly well today. Breakfast; 2 x toast, butter and jam. Morning tea; half a carrot. Lunch; half a can of spaghetti. Afternoon tea; half a carrot, nuts and raisins (didn't measure how many). Dinner; pork chop, mashed potato, carrot. Very good indeed if I do say so myself. And I drank quite a bit of water for once, so again that was good. Im a very good girl today.

Financially I was pretty good today. Diesel for the ute, tampons, packing tape, and nuts and raisins. I spent $90 total today. Plus Mum thinks its a good idea that I open new bank accounts at a new bank, so YAY, I'm on the right track!

Saturday, July 19, 2008

So I worked today. No big deal, except I don't usually work Sundays. Well I haven't for a long time, however with the new job I will be, but heck, really, I was just stuck for a title!

My parents at my sisters. My mother HATES photos so you have to snap when you can.

Went to the big sisters for dinner last night. Roast pork for dinner, and Mum made a cheesecake for dessert. Was totally delicious! I ate way too much. Story of my life, well my past life as I am, once again, resolving to lose weight! This is probably resolution 9,486,215 but you gotta start somewhere. I got my Fonterra job by utilising 'The Secret', so I am now going to apply it to my weight, and my finances.

My little neice. She was a bit grubby yesterday, but still the life and soul of the party.

My two neices. The older one didn't want any photos taken last night, so this was all I got. Yes that is a singing santa dog, six months early but I'm off-loading stuff.

I achieved my food goals today. I was STARVING hungy, moreso than usual. I wanted chocolate. I wanted a coke. I wanted ANYTHING bad. But I didn't succombe. I waited until I got home and had a couple of pieces of toast with marmite, before dinner. Todays food list is thus - Breakfast; 2 pieces of toast with butter and jam. Morning tea; half a carrot (raw) and a piece of banana cake (my co-worker brought it in and I didn't want to be rude. Wasn't a large piece). Lunch; left over macaroni and cheese with mushrooms. Afternoon tea; half a carrot (raw) and 3 krispie biscuits, two pieces of toast with butter and marmite. Tea; 3 pieces of chicken, rice, 1 x carrot, peas, and gravy. No WONDER I'm rather large at the moment. Cut down on portion size MichaJ!

And financial goals all good today too. I have decided to close two of my current accounts at my current bank (2 savings accounts with NO money in them), and retain my current account and my Visa. This current account will become my house account - rent will go in, mortgage will go out. And I need to get both of these accounts paid off and if I don't use them as my main accounts this WILL happen. Balance of these accounts are - current account -$1200.00; visa account - -$1500.00. I then plan to open 2 new accounts with another bank. A current account and a savings account. I will use these new accounts with my new job, and automatically transfer money over to my old accounts to get them paid off (if I can get this done through my salary that would be GREAT). So the idea behind this plan is basically so I start off from scratch. Set up a debt repayment plan and then focus on building wealth. I shall do this on Thursday, which is payday. Rock on my new life. Wheeeeeeee

Friday, July 18, 2008

Well the awesome news is that I got the job with Fonterra at Whareroa, so in two weeks time I am moving to Eltham to live with my Naki boy. Now I'm scared, new job and the whole moving in thing sounded fantastic when talking about it, but now its all happening I'm a lot nervous. Which is a good thing, and totally normal! I go from 'I can't wait' to 'Can I do it all in time?' ... lol

Winter flowers under one of my trees

So, yeah, I have two weeks to pack and tidy and clean my house, and get it rented so I can then shift all of my stuff and start my new life. The garden needs a serious makeover, and it's bloody raining, so that is off the cards today. Bit gutting but I did manage to deadhead the Agapanthus and a few rose bushes. I got interrupted deadheading the roses, first by a neighbour (which was cool) and then my folks (which was also cool), at which point it then began to rain so I had to come inside. Now I would be able to pack up inside, if I had anymore boxes, but I don't, so I'm hanging out online, watching TV and waiting for quick breaks in the weather so I can head outside and finish the roses I started, and maybe get a quick bit of weeding done. The cool thing is my Mum said that she was going to get in a load of bark, which is what I wanted to get my gardens finished. Plus Mum and Dad are going to spend next week here working on the gardens, so that is very cool of them, and greatly appreciated. As a big thank you to them I am going to SAVE money from now on. Be very careful about putting a sum away for a rainly day. I will also pay them back of course, that goes without saying for me. But the best gift I can give them is to get real with my cash handling skills. I wonder what it is about me that means I spend more than I earn. I know that this is a society problem, ie I'm not the only person like that, but I wonder what it is specifically about me that needs to spend money on 'stuff' that I don't need.

Before deadheading Hydrangas

I had Thursday off work so I can work for Carly on Sunday (so Carly can go and race) so Thursday I decided to tackle my Hydrangas. The above is the before picture. My house roof needs painting (saving object number 1!) and the shot looks a little dark, but I think that it may be mostly my computer. Anyway they look quite bushy with LOTS of dead flower heads, now ...

After deadheading Hydrangas

this is how the garden finished up. I deadheaded both Hydranga bushes (I'm pretty sure I am not spelling that correctly) and I weeded the garden on the right hand side. I got hit by rain on this day as well, but hey, a bit at a time will get it all done, ay?!

So tonight I'm off to my sisters for tea. Mumsie and Dadsie are going to pick me up on their way past. Wonder what shes got cookin .....

About Me

After years of trying, and ultimately failing to have a child, we are embracing a child free life brought to us by infertility. I am so very thankful that my mindset has accommodated this unexpected change to my life plan. Probably helps that I never really planned my life all that much to begin with.
We are dairy farmers, so have many cows, 2 dogs, 3 chickens, and 3 goldfish to keep us busy.